


You Have Found Her, Now Go and Get Her

by Chash



Series: Make It Better [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Actors, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Social Media, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 17:34:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13816074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chash/pseuds/Chash
Summary: Clarke didn’t expect to become a semi-successful professional video-game player, any more than Bellamy expected to become an actually successful actor. But since she is, and he is, he figures he can use his influence to get her into the special preview of the new game that’s coming out based on his movie.It’s one way to get a girl to notice you.





	You Have Found Her, Now Go and Get Her

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bgonemydear](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgonemydear/gifts).



> For Brit's birthday this year, she wanted a fic inspired by John Boyega's Instagram, where he sometimes posts videos of himself playing Star Wars Battlegrounds as Finn, and this is what we ended up with! Also I am aware that Blizzard would not be the company making this game, but if you thought I was going to let "realism" stop me from making Roan a Blizzard employee, you really don't know me very well.
> 
> anyway happy birthday babe ♥

As with so many things in her life, Clarke's motivation for getting into video games is about ninety-percent spite.

Not that she doesn't like video games on their own merits. She never really played them as a kid, but it wasn't out of lack of interest as much as lack of opportunity. Her dad was a technophile, but his interest tended more to gadgets than games, and she wouldn't have known where to start with buying her own. Arcades weren't really a thing among her friends, and even if they were, she would have felt too self-conscious. She doesn't like doing things in public when she's not good at them, and having to pay a sack full of quarters to get good while other people sounded like a nightmare.

So she gets her start gaming in college, when a guy she kind of has a thing for is a dick to her.

She'll later look back later on the crush as an almost stereotypical college freshman experience: the guy lives down the hall and seems _interesting_ , the kind of person she never hung out with in high school because she was too focused on academics and being in the right crowd. He smokes a lot of weed and talks about "big" issues and she should have realized he was a giant asshole sooner, but at eighteen, she doesn't have the finely refined douche-dar that she'll develop later in life, thanks in part to people like him.

It doesn't start off badly. She asks him what he's playing about half because she's curious and half because she wants an excuse to talk to him, and he explains how Smash Brothers works and the basic controls and asks if she wants to play with him, just like she hoped he would.

It takes her a few tries to get the hang of it, and she doesn't notice at first how every time she beats him, he says it's just luck, or his controller was being weird, or the AI got in the way. As she gets better, he starts changing the rules, getting rid of items because the randomness is favoring her, turning off the computer-controlled fighters, picking stages carefully to favor his own skills.

If she was more familiar with gaming culture, she'd recognize the behavior as a serious player threatened by a less experienced one, could even make the "No items, Fox only, Final Destination" joke he's begging for. But she's not, so instead she tries, "Maybe I'm just good at this," and he says, "No, this is just easy. If we were playing a _real_ game, you wouldn't stand a chance."

Red flags fly up, her fledgling douche-dar whirring to life. "A real game?"

"Yeah. I'd love to see you trying to play an FPS."

She has no idea what an FPS is, but she knows a challenge when she hears one. "Have you got one? I'll play it right now."

He switches the Wii for another system she doesn't recognize, throws her into some other game with no background at all. She dies a few times trying to figure out the controls, and he turns it off as soon as she makes her first kill.

"See? Way too hard for you."

"Way too hard? I was just getting the hang of it!"

"Whatever. I know you don't actually care about games. Are we going to make out or what?"

"Wow, you make it sound so tempting. Thanks for teaching me to play Smash Brothers, and for being a dick because I'm better at it than you are."

" _Better_ ," he scoffs. "Whatever. You got lucky."

"And you're not going to," she says, with a tight smile. "Bye."

It's a surprisingly formative experience, a blessing in disguise, if she's honest. When Niylah Murphy asks her out a month later, she's not sure she would have said yes if she wasn't so disenchanted with men in general, and she knows she wouldn't have joined the campus gaming club if she didn't want to prove she could actually be good at this stuff.

Given that her brand, at age twenty-seven, is basically angry bisexual gamer girl, it's possible she owes that asshole guy a lot. He wasn't the only person to ever assume she wasn't good at games, to think it was fun to play with her right up until she became a real threat to his superiority, but he's the one that lingers, the one that makes her feel like she's going to be good, she's going to be the fucking _best_ , she's going to learn every game and be great at all of them.

So, yeah. If she ever sees him again, she should maybe thank him. But she also knows herself well enough that she knows she wouldn't; she'd just rub it in his face. Because she _is_ successful, somehow. It's not the kind of success her mother had in mind for her, but she actually makes a living playing video games, which not everyone can do.

Of course, she still gets troll dudes telling her that it's just because she's a hot girl, and that without her looks and gender she'd be unsuccessful, but that's to be expected.

" _People only watch you because you're hot_ ," she reads off the chat box on her Twitch stream as she waits for the next round of PUBG to start. "If you're not reading the chat, which you shouldn't be, just be aware that most of those words are misspelled. But here's something you might not realize if you're not a woman: there's nothing you can do and no job you can have where you won't hear that you only have it because of your looks or gender. If you're not conventionally attractive, it's usually because of affirmative action or diversity quotas or something, and if you are, it's because someone wants to fuck you. Never your own merits. People with these takes always act like they're being brave and saying what no one else will say, but we hear this shit all the time. It's not new, and you're not original. You're saying exactly what everyone else is saying." She pauses. "And there's someone else saying I should shut up about politics and get back to the gaming, thanks. Very helpful. You guys can see the loading screen, I know you can, it's not like I'm pausing my games to talk to you about sexism. This is a job for me, I know what pays my bills. If you want me to stop telling you about what it's like to be a woman in gaming, make it better to be a woman in gaming so I won't have anything to complain about."

"That'll work," Raven mutters. Clarke waves her hand at her under the desk, where her viewers won't be able to see, and Raven just shakes her head.

As roommates go, Raven Reyes is probably the best Clarke has ever had. She emailed Clarke when Clarke was just starting out on Twitch, offering some tech support because _women in gaming have to stick together_. Clarke hadn't quite believed it at first, waiting for the catch, the betrayal, but she'd checked out Raven's channel, been impressed with her skills and attitude, and they'd become friends. When Raven got into MIT for grad school, she'd moved to Boston, and Clarke had coincidentally needed someone new to live with after Harper got serious with her boyfriend. It was basically perfect timing.

Granted, she finds it a little weird that people on the internet take this as a sign that they are in true love forever, and write fanfic about how they're going to get married, but as long Clarke doesn't have to see it, that's fine. Sometimes she and Raven get drunk and read it, and it's not even all bad. Some of these people really know how to write a hot sex scene.

Her life is inescapably bizarre at this point, so she figures she might as well enjoy it.

Once her next round of PUBG is over, she goes back to skimming comments, trying to find ones that will actually make for interesting conversation.

"You guys know I'm not actually going to take my shirt off, right?" she asks, absent. "I'm not sure why you keep asking. Are you convinced that this is going to be the time that I decide I might as well do it? I haven't been for three years, why would I start now? You can see shirtless women all over the internet, I promise. And no, it's not flattering that you want to see me, specifically," she adds, as soon as she sees _that_ opinion pop up. "It's weird." An actually interesting question rolls by, and she smiles. "Am I excited for the new _Wayfarers_ movie? Yes, obviously. The first one was great and I really like the way they optioned the universe, so they're not trying to put the books on screen, but we still get cameos from the Pepper and the _Wayfarer_ crew. I really like the new characters and--" She laughs. "And, yes, the record will show I think Bellamy Blake is really hot. He's not the only reason I'm seeing the new movies, but he is a factor. _Have you heard about the game?_ There are a lot of games, but I assume you mean the MMORPG, which I'm really excited about. I'll probably also play some of the others, but fighting is a lot less appealing to me than exploring for that universe. I just want to get a ship and go everywhere. And make friends, yeah," she adds, smiling at the comments. "If I don't end up with a ragtag found family, what am I even doing?"

Her next round starts up, and the question mostly drifts from her mind. Like always, she doesn't notice who asked the question or why, doesn't really put much thought into it. She gets a lot of questions, after all, and she's mentioned before that she's a fan of the _Wayfarers_ series, both books and movies.

It doesn't seem like anything particularly special, at the time.

*

Not that he's been able to do a comprehensive study or anything, but Bellamy's pretty sure no one was as surprised by his rise to stardom than he himself was. His life is the sort of thing that isn't supposed to happen, a bunch of statistical improbabilities stacking on top of each other until it feels like it's all going to fall over at any time. He can't be this rich or this famous. It's just impossible.

And yet, here he is.

His stardom is so unlikely that he'd actually been thinking about giving up on the whole acting thing when it came along. He was twenty-two with a high-school diploma and no major roles under his belt and a continuing need to have food and shelter. He'd started acting in high school with no ambition at all, and it was only the encouragement of his drama teacher, Mr. Pike, that got him to try out for real roles. If he hadn't already lived in LA, he wouldn't have even bothered. He did some local commercials, got to be an extra in a few scenes, but nothing major.

His big break didn't look like it at the time, even though he knew it was a big deal. A national commercial spot was nothing to scoff at, but not a lot of people really launch careers off of them. And the role itself wasn't really anything special, just an ad for a new pop-culture trivia app. His job was to wear some robes and a pair of glasses and answer a question about _Harry Potter_ , and he thought he pulled it off pretty well. He collected a paycheck and was excited to see himself on actual, real TV, even if it wasn't for anything major. He and Octavia and Miller had a viewing party and toasted with champagne, and that felt like a pretty good way to end his acting career. He'd be going out on a high note.

But then, the internet _loved_ him. Octavia tracked the whole phenomenon with unholy glee, updating him on the fansites that emerged, the petitions to get him cast as James Potter in an actual, official _Harry Potter_ project, the fake twitters pretending to be him, like that was something that had actual material benefits. Suddenly, he had, if not _name_ recognition, then at least face recognition. 

And he started getting parts. Nothing huge, not to start with, but he was on people's radars. When he went to auditions, the casting directors didn't see a too-empty resume and a too-desperate wannabe. They saw potential. They saw a star in the making.

So _Wayfarers_ is his second big break, the more obvious one, the one that comes with real material benefits. He's never been the top billed actor for any film before, and now he's the lead in an actual blockbuster franchise. Even better, it's a _good_ franchise, one he can be proud of, that lets him show off his acting chops and not just how great he looks without a shirt.

Some days, he feels like the luckiest person in the entire universe, but most of the time, he still feels like a poor kid who's just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Which is probably why it's so exciting when his favorite Twitch player says she thinks he's hot.

Miller, of course, is less impressed. "You know you know actual supermodels, right? Like, people who are famous for being hot think you're hot too."

"Yeah, and that's awesome," he says. "But they're saying it to me."

"So it's less exciting when people you're into tell you to your face that they're into you? That makes sense. Definitely not fucking deranged."

Bellamy flips him off, absent. "She's not trying to suck up. I just asked her if she was excited for the new movie. Someone else said she was into me." Which was, admittedly, also interesting. Clarke treated it as a matter of public record, a well-known fact, but he'd missed it entirely. Granted, he wasn't watching her channel when the first movie came out, so it's not like he would have seen what she said then, but it still gives him a little thrill. Not only does she think he's hot, she's _known_ for thinking he's hot. 

It's a little bit cool. Not the coolest part of being a celebrity, but it's kind of representative of that. People know him and have opinions about him. Even if the opinions aren't all good, it's still amazing.

"It would have been better if she just said it herself."

"It would have, but I'll take what I can get." He sighs and turns off his iPad. "And now I have to go to another fucking meeting. No one ever told me how many meetings there are when you're a celebrity."

"Wow, yeah, I feel so bad for you. Must suck getting paid a lot to hear about how great you are."

"This meeting is about video games," he admits, and Miller rolls his eyes.

"If you didn't let me live in your house for like no rent, I'd hate you."

Bellamy drops a smacking kiss onto his forehead. "I'll see if I can get you some swag."

"That's all I ask."

Fame still feels like a new outfit Bellamy hasn't broken in yet, even almost a year after the first _Wayfarers_ movie rocketed him to super-stardom. The fact that there are people who hang out by his apartment hoping to get pictures of him is just bizarre, to say nothing of people going through his trash. He's just not that interesting, honestly. He has no idea what they're hoping to find.

He waves to the two paparazzi he can see on his way to his car, largely because he doesn't know what else to do. If they want pictures of him, they'll get him. They haven't been around for the last few months, but the hype train is starting up for the next movie, and he also just got cast in a couple other high-profile roles, so interest in him might be the highest it's ever been.

At some point, he assumes it'll seem normal to him, but he's never actually going to _get_ it. He can't believe anyone can make money selling pictures of him viewed through the gate of his house; part of him thinks he should figure out how to do it himself, just to make some extra cash in cash the acting thing falls through again.

Gaia, Anya, and Murphy are already there when he makes it to the Blizzard offices, and he takes the seat next to Gaia without having to think about it. She gives him a cup of coffee, too, so he obviously made the right choice. She's his favorite.

The game isn't actually directly based on their movie; like the movies themselves, it's about the universe, an attempt to make this into the next _Star Wars_ , a whole galaxy full of possibility. But the movies are still the visible face of the project, and they're expected to do some game promo as well. And, with both the game and the movie launching in a couple months, any game publicity they get at this point is basically doing double duty.

Of all the promo he's got, this is the most exciting so far. He likes games.

There aren't a lot of surprises, just a list of events he needs to go to, things he's supposed to say, the usual stuff. It's not until they get to the timeline that Roan gives him information he didn't already know: "We'll be doing a soft launch in a month and a half, and Bellamy and Gaia will be filming commercials this upcoming week for that."

He and Gaia exchange a look; he knew he was filming a commercial, but he hadn't realized it was for the game, specifically. Just a tie-in.

"What's a soft launch?"

"Publicity," says Roan, unrepentant. "It's functioning as something between a beta test and the final product. Everything's done, but we're running a contest for early access. That's what your commercials will be announcing. Potential players can enter a lottery to play for a month before the game goes live for the general public. That will happen on the same day as the movie premieres."

"So we're going to lose box-office sales to all the nerds who want to start playing this video game as soon as possible?" Murphy asks.

"Bellamy won't be at the premiere, he'll be too busy playing the game," Gaia teases.

"Not if they just let me in on the soft launch."

"Then we won't see him for a month," says Murphy. "No promo, no events, someone will have to pry him out of his chair and clean him up for every single thing."

"That's why I have an agent. That's literally his job. How many spots in the soft launch?"

"Five thousand for the general public. We'll also be giving early access to some number of industry insiders--reviewers, professionals--" Roan pauses, inclines his head. "Bellamy, if he wants."

"Definitely."

The rest of the meeting runs as usual, timelines of social media posts promoting the game and the contest, plans for public appearances. All the information will be sent to Bellamy's agent, and Monty will put it in his calendar, and he'll deal with it when it comes up.

But once they're done, he does take Roan aside. "Can I make a couple early access requests?"

Roan's eyebrows shoot up. "Aside from yourself?"

"My roommate and my agent would kill me if I didn't hook them up."

"Understandable. That shouldn't be a problem."

He hesitates, worrying his lip. "Do you have a list of reviewers you're reaching out to?"

That gets him another interested look. "It hasn't been finalized. Why?"

"Clarke Griffin and Raven Reyes," he says. "They're not huge, but they have a solid fanbase and they run Pretty Good reviews. The game should be big with female fans, and that would be a good way to get the word out to them."

He nods. "I'll certainly keep that in mind. I appreciate your input."

It sounds like bullshit, but he mostly likes Roan, from what little he knows of him, and the vast majority of what he says sounds like bullshit even if it's not, so he figures he can let it slide. And Roan, admittedly, doesn't need Bellamy telling him how to do his job. 

"I'm looking forward to getting to play," he says, and that does make Roan smile.

"I'll be sure to get it to you as soon as I'm allowed to. And your roommate and agent as well."

"Awesome, thanks."

On his way to the car, he texts Miller: _Getting you early access to the Wayfarers MMORPG, don't say I never did anything for you_.

Miller's response is immediate, _I knew being a celebrity would pay off eventually_ , and Bellamy has to smile.

That sounds about right.

*

"I think we've officially hit the big times," Raven tells Clarke, when she gets back from her morning run.

"What happened?"

"I just got a call from Roan Glazer."

Clarke frowns. The name is familiar, but she can't place it. "Which one is that again?"

"He works for Blizzard," she says. "In charge of marketing for the _Wayfarers_ MMO."

"And he's calling us?"

"That's what I'm saying. Apparently they're doing a soft launch of the game. Most of the slots are going out in a lottery, but they have some for _industry insiders_ too."

"And that's us?"

"Yup. They'll put us in as long as we do a review for the website and stream a certain number of hours."

"Holy shit," says Clarke. "I didn't think we were that big a deal."

"Like I said, the big times. He's going to send over an actual contract, so I figure we should read it pretty carefully. I don't want to agree and find out we lose access if we talk shit about the controls or something."

"Yeah." She shakes her head, still feeling a little dazed. "Did they say when we'd be getting it?"

"Soft launch is a month before the movie premiere. They also want us to do some promo for their contest, I guess, but apparently Bellamy Blake's staring in one of the ads, so I figure you can just livestream how much you drool over him."

"Okay, my thing for Bellamy Blake has been wildly exaggerated. It's not like seeing him reduces me to a pile of goo. He's a hot actor, there are a lot of hot actors."

"Yeah, but he's the only one you've talked about on stream. It's not a bad thing," she adds. "People like it, we might as well lean into it."

"I'm not saying I won't do it, just that I don't have a shrine to him in my closet or anything."

Raven rolls her eyes. "Trust me, I've seen your closet. You could never fit a shrine in there with all the dirty clothes."

"Yeah, I'd put it in the bathroom or something."

"And then I'd definitely know about it."

There's nothing really to do with the whole thing until the contract comes through, but it does settle under Clarke's skin as a thrum of background excitement. She and Raven can support themselves off ad revenue, which is a miracle in and of itself, but they're not really that huge, not even household names among people for whom professional gamers are household names. And even still, they both get other work when they can, Raven as a freelance coder and Clarke as a freelance writer and illustrator. And without the safety net of her mother not wanting her to starve to death, Clarke isn't sure she'd feel nearly as successful as she does. They're getting by, but it doesn't feel safe.

So even leaving aside the coolness of getting early access to a game she's really excited about, there's something exhilarating about being included. They're _industry insiders_. Their voices are valued.

They review the contract themselves and then get Wells to look too, since he's a lawyer of some kind, even if not a contract lawyer. He can still tell them that it looks legit and they aren't going to get sued if they say the game is bad. 

"But you still have to stream the required number of hours," he says. "So if it does suck, you're going to be stuck playing a lot of it."

"If I hate it enough, maybe they'll cancel the contract," Clarke muses. "They probably don't want me streaming twenty hours of how miserable I am."

"As the guy who's pretending to be your lawyer because you can't afford a real lawyer, I'd advise you to not try to get them to void your contract if you can help it. But I don't know anything about video games, I'm not a contract lawyer, and you never listen to me anyway, so I don't know why I'm bothering. Go nuts."

"I'm hoping I'm just going to like the game," she says, and there's a pause.

"Yeah, if you can do that, it would definitely be easiest."

"I'll do my best."

It's hard not to worry, with something like this. Clarke wasn't as betrayed by the _No Man's Sky_ debacle as some people were, but a large part of the appeal of the _Wayfarers_ game is having a huge, rich universe to play around in, and if the game doesn't deliver on that, it's going to be a disappointment. They've already said the game will be adding worlds as it progresses, that what's launching now won't be _it_ , but having the universe feel large enough from the get-go will be a challenge.

But that's a problem for another day; for now, she has shilling to do.

"So, great news for me, more mixed news for you. You've probably already heard that _Wayfarers: Universal_ is doing a soft release a month before the movie hits, and there's a lottery for spots. They've got five-thousand, and all you have to do is pre-order the game. If you already did, you're automatically entered, and if you win, you don't have to pay for it. So if you wanted to pre-order it anyway, you might as well do it now and get in on the contest, and you might win." She smiles, a little awkward. "The great news for me is that I don't have to! Apparently we're a big enough deal that we get free stuff now, so in exchange for some promo of the contest, we'll have early access. They're also making me stream it, but you know I was going to stream it anyway. So--I assume it's not news that I get paid for this? If you guys thought I did this out of the goodness of my heart, I don't. This is how I make my living. I'm not getting monetary compensation for this, but I will be doing promo in exchange for product. Sorry. On the bright side, our first feature is at least shallow. Raven says there's a new ad for the game starring one of my top-five male celebrity crushes, Bellamy Blake, so let's check that out."

The commercial is actually pretty cute, which helps. They have Bellamy in front of a big-screen TV creating a new character, showing off the range of species and options, before he settles on a fairly close recreation of himself. He picks the uniform he wears in the movie for his outfit, rotates the screen so he can look at the character and tweak it a little, and then enters _Dawson Nicks_ as his display name. As soon as the game loads, he finds himself in the middle of a spaceport full of other players who have also decided they want to be Dawson Nicks, one of whom turns to him and says, "Not bad, but your scar is on the wrong side," and then they put up the tagline and game information.

It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's fun, and Clarke is actually genuinely excited about the char-gen, which gives her something to talk about besides her Bellamy thirst.

"Which is good, because if you _are_ watching this for totally shallow reasons, it's kind of disappointing. We mostly just see over his shoulder. That might not even be the real Bellamy, just some guy with curly hair. And before anyone ats me, no, I don't really think it's not him, he's clearly in the beginning and bringing in a body double when they already have him just makes no sense. All I'm saying is that if you're watching this because you have a thing for Bellamy Blake, you're going to be disappointed." She notices a couple similar messages flash by on her chat and frowns. " _Anyone who's just interested in the series for some actor should be ashamed_? Wow, come on. It's a movie. You don't need to write a five-hundred-word essay on why you're watching it. If the only reason you like _Wayfarers_ is that Bellamy Blake is hot, own it. You don't have to have a better reason than that."

Another message pops up in the chat, from _brotheraugustus_ , a name she tends to associate with good, fairly inoffensive comments: _Have you decided what kind of character you're going to make yet?_

"Have I decided on a character," she muses. "Honestly, I'm waiting to see what other options there are? I want to see about racial modifiers and stuff. I'm probably going to roll non-human, I want to see what kind of different mechanics are built in to the alien races. But let's be honest, if the game is any fun at all I'll want to try every possible race and class. So it's just a question of where I start." Another question catches her eye and she smiles. " _Will you be making a character that looks exactly like Bellamy Blake_? No. I don't want to be Bellamy, I want to be with him. So I'll be making a character that looks like Myr, and if anyone else wants to be Dawson and act out our favorite scenes from Dawyr ship fanfic, they can let me know." She lets herself smile, feeling excitement bubbling up in her even as she tries to keep her expectations in check. "It's going to be awesome."

*

"This might count as creepy," Miller tells Bellamy, and Bellamy frowns.

"How is it creepy?"

"You're watching some girl you've never met put together her character so that you can make sure your character is in the same place as hers and you guys can maybe meet. This is actually stalking."

"It's not stalking."

"Yeah? How is it not?"

"She said what server she was on and said people should come find her. Waiting to finish my character until I know where she's going just makes sense."

"Just because she knows it's happening doesn't mean it's not stalking."

"I'm not going to do anything."

"Define _anything_ ," says Miller, giving him a look.

"I'm just going to see if she wants to run around together. Like she _told people to_. If she says no, I'll leave. No big deal. I'm not going to be the only one."

"So your defense is that everyone else is doing it?"

"No, my defense is that I'm going to be less creepy about it."

It admittedly doesn't sound great once he's said it, but he doesn't actually think he's being weird. Clarke's making a character and invited any of her followers who were online, on the right planet and server, and low level to come try to run some missions with her. Once he knows what planet she's on, he's going to pick the same one and take his new avatar over to volunteer. Aside from Miller and Monty, he doesn't know anyone else who got chosen for the soft launch, and neither of them are playing right now. Clarke is the closest thing he has to a friend he can try doing some quests with.

Of course, he could just play alone, or with strangers. But he's not sure why he'd do that when Clarke is an option.

He has most of his character creation done, and he's just waiting for Clarke to pick a planet so he can too. Which, again, it's creepy, but not actually a big deal. He has to start on _some_ planet, it might as well be the one she's on.

On the stream he's got up on his iPad, Clarke rotates her new character, showing it off. She made an Aandrisk, blue scales with a feathered rainbow mohawk, and he only regrets a little going with a human. He has the most uncreative avatar of all time.

"Okay, we're going to Arden V," she says. "So if anyone was waiting to find out where I was before they picked their planet, now you know."

"See?" says Bellamy. "Not stalking, totally normal." He finds Arden V on his own display and selects it. As a final step, the game prompts him for a display name and he hesitates for only a second before putting _Bellamy_.

"Seriously?" asks Miller.

"What?"

"Not even Dawson?"

He shrugs. "No one can say I'm not being honest." 

"Hiding in plain sight?"

"Something like that." The game loads, and he works his way through the introductory quest roughly in time with Clarke, watching her out of the corner of his eye. There are enough Aandrisks around that he can't be sure which if any are her, but he assumes they'll get through around the same time and he can meet up with her regardless.

Which is not a big deal at all, obviously.

"You know, it's kind of funny that you're the one stalking her," Miller observes.

"I'm still not stalking her."

"You're an actual famous person, and she's a small-time game reviewer, but you're acting like she's the celebrity."

"I'm not acting like she's a celebrity," he says, and finds it's actually true. 

"Okay, you're acting like she's the popular girl you've got a crush on."

That one's pretty hard to argue. "Yeah, well, she doesn't know who I am, so she can't have a crush on me. And I don't actually know her, so--shut up."

"Solid argument. Really compelling."

"Okay!" says Clarke, on the iPad, and Bellamy's attention snaps back to her. "Done with my intro quests, and I'm checking out the traders' union to see what kind of quests there are. So far gameplay seems good? Controls are pretty simple, but not in a bad way, and I like my special abilities. I assume I'm going to get more as I go. And the planet feels busy, which I was worried about. A lot of diversity in background NPCs, and plenty to explore so far. But I really want to see how space travel feels."

Bellamy finishes up his own intro quest, and his own map updates with a marker for the trades' union. He takes a deep breath and starts running, feeling a little bit stupid with nerves. It _is_ kind of like having a crush, this kind of nauseous anticipation that makes him feel like he's in high school again. It's not exactly that he likes her, more that he's curious about her. And he would, admittedly, like to get to know her. But the nerves are mostly just--what if she didn't mean it? What if Miller's right and she thinks he's creepy?

Even worse, what if he sucks at this game and she doesn't actually want to play with him? It would really suck if he made an idiot of himself. He wants her to _like him_ , and that's enough to spike his anxiety.

"Shit, there she is," he says, and navigates over to stand next to her at the job board, and then pulls up the in-game chat.

 **Bellamy** : @Clarke Hey not to be a weird guy from your Twitch, but I'm a weird guy from your Twitch

On the iPad, Clarke laughs. "Okay, first person to find me is a Bellamy Blake RPer? Is that a thing? A person with the display name Bellamy whose avatar looks like Bellamy Blake. And you did a good job with it, I didn't think anyone would actually get the avatar that close. I didn't mention this, but I do like the username/display name thing. Your username has to be unique, but you can pick whatever display name you want, even if there are a lot of them. If you're in the same area as someone with the same display name, the game adds a unique numeric identifier for chats, but most of the time, you don't need a bunch of numbers. Which is nice for people who want to roleplay; even if you didn't get to the name you wanted first, you can still have it."

She's typing as she talks, so he's not surprised when a response appears in the chat window too.

 **Clarke** : @Bellamy Don't worry about it  
If I didn't want to see people from my Twitch, I wouldn't say what server I was on  
Did you want to do a mission, or were you looking for a virtual autograph?

 **Bellamy** : @Clarke Mission, thanks  
None of my friends are online right now and I wanted to see how multiplayer was

 **Clarke** : @Bellamy Oh wow  
You have friends in the soft launch?  
That's awesome

Bellamy winces, even though it’s really not a big deal. She’s not going to figure out he’s Bellamy Blake, even though he’s actually playing as himself. Which is, he’ll admit, a bit of a risk, but he couldn’t get his own name for his twitter account because fans grabbed up every variation before he’d bothered to sign up. He won’t be the only person going by Bellamy here, probably, and he's always wanted to be himself in a video game.

Hiding in plain site, like Miller said.

 **Bellamy** : @Clarke Just two but yeah  
Super lucky  
Any other takers?

 **Clarke** : @Bellamy Not yet  
This mission says ten minutes for two, want to try?

It’s nothing special, he knows. This was open to all comers, and he was the only one who came. There’s no deeper meaning here, no subtext to examine. It’s nothing special at all.

He’s still fucking stoked.

 **Bellamy** : @Clarke I’m in  
Lead the way

*

The person who goes by Bellamy isn’t the only ally Clarke makes during the soft launch of _Wayfarers: Universal_ , but they are absolutely the most confusing. Less because it’s hard to think of them as Bellamy and more because it’s hard to think of them as Bellamy without then going on to think of them as Bellamy _Blake_ , the actual one. She knows they aren’t, but that’s who she pictures in her head, and it fucks with her a little. It’s strange having no other point of reference.

She asks for their Twitch account, and while it's interesting and kind of cool to find out they're _brotheraugustus_ , it doesn't really help. The profile is empty and there’s no useful demographic information there, nothing that sheds any more light on their identity than just talking to them does.

It probably wouldn’t bother her so much, knowing nothing about them, if she didn’t actually kind of like them. Meeting her fans in MMOs tends to be kind of a mixed bag; they’re competent or they’re not, but either way, it tends to feel a little awkward. There’s a distance between her and them, and she never wants to keep in touch.

If Bellamy is awkward around her, they shows no sign of it, and the two of them actually work together really well. They did six missions together that first day, and when Bellamy had to sign off, she got their friend code and added them. When she got invited to join the crew of the McElroy brothers' new ship, she brought Bellamy too, and by the time the soft launch is over, she considers them to be her closest ally. They’re her first choice to take on missions, and if they’re not online when she is, sometimes she won’t bother playing at all.

They do talk some about personal stuff. She strongly suspects they’re a guy, based on everything they’ve said, but she somehow has trouble switching over to male pronouns. She just has more trouble imagining a guy playing as Bellamy Blake, for whatever reason. It seems like a fangirl kind of thing. As they go she finds out other things: they're thirty, live on the west coast, have a younger sister.

When she checked Bellamy Blake’s actual Wikipedia page, just on a whim, she found all those things were true of him too, which just felt weirder. Like the RP was going a little too far.

Even after that, she doesn't think the online Bellamy could actually _be_ Bellamy Blake. It doesn’t even cross her mind as a possibility, not until Raven takes a trip to LA for a conference and comes back with big news.

“I met Roan, the marketing guy,” she says, which doesn’t seem that big to Clarke. “First, he’s got a kind grimy, rugged look going and I hit that.”

She has to smile. “Thanks for letting me know. Really important.”

“Just saying. Second, I asked him how the hell we made it into the soft launch, since we weren’t that big a deal.”

Clarke had always privately thought they were doing fine, but she has to admit that getting onto the soft launch made a huge difference. Their modest hit count soared, and she picked up a bunch of new followers. It opened them up to a whole new demographic, and they went from doing fine to doing _well_. They still might not be a big deal, but they're a way bigger deal than they were.

“And?”

“And he said Bellamy Blake recommended us.”

She chokes. “What?”

“Swear to god. He found out about the soft launch and asked if we were on the list of reviewers getting early access. We weren’t on Roan’s radar at all, but Bellamy told him it would be good for reaching out to the female demographic.”

“Bellamy Blake got us on the soft launch.”

“And himself. And two of his friends. Apparently he plays a lot.”

It's not hard to see where Raven is going with this. “There’s no way that’s actually him,” she says, but she’s remembering how surprised she was when he said none of his friends were online yet during their first meeting. What were the odds that two of his friends would have made it into the soft launch with him? There were hundreds of thousands of entries, and only five thousand winners. She'd assumed he was in a gaming forum or something, some online thing with a lot of members, but that doesn't really seem like him, now that she knows him better.

 _Them_ , she reminds herself. She knows _them_ better. This doesn't change anything. The fact that Bellamy Blake knows about them and was in the soft launch doesn't mean he was running around with a big sign on saying _I'm Bellamy Blake_.

"I'm not saying it _is_ him, but it definitely could be. Come on, it's kind of funny. If you were the star of a movie, wouldn't you play yourself in the game?"

"It's not like they're even being Dawson," Clarke protests. "They're just--Bellamy."

Granted, no one really thinks it's him. But it's not like he'd be suspicious regardless. It's so--

If Bellamy is Bellamy, it's honestly hilarious. No one would ever suspect in a million years.

"You do think he's hot," Raven says. "Maybe he wanted you to be into his avatar."

"There's no way," she says again, but her voice is getting fainter.

"I don't know what the odds are, but they're not _nothing_."

"Am I supposed to just ask then? What do you want me to do with this information?"

"Why not ask?"

Clarke opens and closes her mouth a few times. "Even if he is, he could say no."

"Then he doesn't want you to know and you move on."

"If he says yes he could still be lying."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure burden of proof is on him. Seriously, none of these are reasons not to ask."

"It's weird, right?"

"He made it weird if it is." She smirks. "You totally want it to be him."

"Obviously. Who doesn't have a _meeting a celebrity_ fantasy? But I'm not going to get my hopes up."

"Hey, no matter what, we know he knows who we are. Can't take that away from us."

It's hard not to smile at that. "That's true, he does. Bellamy Blake is a fan of ours."

"He definitely knows you're into him."

"Everyone's into him, it's not going to be some huge surprise. He's on a bunch of lists of hottest actors. Millions of people think he's hot, he must be used to it."

The scarier thing about Bellamy being, well, _Bellamy_ is that she does like her adventuring companion. He's smart and sharp, with a sense of humor that is somehow an endearing cross between nihilistic sarcasm and bad dad jokes. She's never been one of those people who gets deep into actor fandom, doesn't feel the need to read interviews or learn about personal lives, but if this is Bellamy Blake, he's kind of awesome.

And he likes hanging out with _her_.

As if he was listening, a notification pops up on her computer: _Bellamy is now online!_ As usual, within a few seconds, she's got a private message too.

 **Bellamy** : Hey  
Are you around?  
I've got an hour or two free, I could do a couple missions

 **Clarke** : I actually had a question for you

 **Bellamy** : Yeah?  
What's up?

 **Clarke** : Do you have a name other than Bellamy?

 **Bellamy** : Yeah  
Obviously

 **Clarke** : Will you tell me what it is?  
No offense, but calling you Bellamy is weird

 **Bellamy** : Weird how?

 **Clarke** : Unless you're actually Bellamy Blake, you do not look anything like how I picture you  
I don't even know if you're a guy

 **Bellamy** : I am a guy

There's a long pause, and Clarke feels her heart racing, even as she tells it not to. He probably just doesn't want to tell her his name. Some people are like that, online. Even if she couldn't find him from just a name, she understands not wanting to share demographic information. The hesitation doesn't mean--

 **Bellamy** : I have two other names, I guess?  
Middle name is Bradbury  
Last name is Blake  
Do either of those work better than Bellamy?

She remembers his middle name from looking him up on Wikipedia mostly because it was so odd. She'd assumed his first name might be his mother's maiden name, like hers is, but Bradbury sounded like it could be that too. He had two last names and one first name, in that order, and that's easy to remember.

 **Clarke** : You don't actually expect me to believe you're Bellamy Blake, right?

 **Bellamy** : No, not really  
Do you have an iPhone? Or other Apple product?

 **Clarke** : Yeah

 **Bellamy** : If you give me your number, I'll facetime you

Her heart stopping is kind of a relief, if she's honest. It's a nice break from the wild beating.

"He says he wants to facetime me," she tells Raven.

"To prove he's Bellamy Blake?"

"Yeah. He says he is. It's definitely a prank."

"Uh huh. Are you going to do it?"

She's already typing her number. "Yeah. Only one way to find out."

*

Bellamy spends longer than he maybe needs to figuring out a backdrop for the call, considering that the main draw is definitely _him_ , not whatever posters are on the wall behind him. Clarke just wants to know he's himself, she doesn't care what his house looks like.

He maybe should have just lied, given her another name, but he didn't want to. He likes Clarke, likes her a lot, and he'd like to get to know her better. It's hard to do that when he's guarding his own identity.

Not that he was really guarding it, of course. It was right there. But he knew she never actually thought it was him, and he was just waiting for her to ask.

He gets himself set up on the couch with the corner of Miller's map of Middle Earth in the corner of the screen, takes a couple selfies just to make sure he looks decent. If she's recording for posterity or something, he wants to come across as well as he can.

Even if she's not, he'd still like to.

He thinks about changing, but it's Saturday morning, and he doesn't like to put in his contacts or get out of his pajamas before he absolutely has to. He looks a little rumpled, but in a classy way. And, not to brag, but bedhead looks good on him.

When there's absolutely nothing else he can do to put it off, he lets out a breath and makes the call.

Of course he already knows what Clarke looks like, but it's still somehow a surprise to see her, like a part of him hadn't really believed this would happen. She's dressed for comfort herself, wearing a ribbed tanktop with her hair in a loose braid, and he feels himself smiling as her jaw drops.

"Holy shit."

He lifts his hand in a dorky little wave. "Hi."

"Holy _shit_."

"I told you," he says, unable to keep a teasing note out of his voice. 

"I can't believe you used actually made your avatar look like you."

"Don't people do that?" he asks. "I thought some people did."

"I didn't think celebrities did."

He shrugs. "I got the idea from the commercial. Representation matters, I guess. I never had anyone who looked like me in a video game before, and this is the one where I really should. One of the developers actually designed the skin just for me."

"So you didn't have to actually fiddle with every individual face setting to get it right?"

"Celebrities get a lot of cool perks."

She cocks her head, examining him carefully. "Yeah, I heard that."

"If I'm supposed to know what that means, I don't."

"My roommate heard you were the one who got us into the soft launch for _Universal_."

It's about the last thing he expected her to say, and he feels the heat creep up his neck. "That's, uh--that's a weird rumor to have going around."

"She hooked up with your marketing guy at a conference."

"That would do it." He clears his throat, trying to figure out how much he needs to explain himself. "My agent watches a lot of Twitch, he linked me to you playing _Dragon Age: Inquisition_ last year. I liked it and subscribed. I was filming a lot and didn't really have time to play that many games, so I just watched you do it instead."

"And you wanted to watch me play _Universal_?"

"I knew you were excited about it," he says, with a shrug. "All I did was give your names to Roan, he made the decision to actually include you."

"Still," she says. "Thanks."

"Sure."

They lapse into silence, and he tries to come up with something else to say. They do chat sometimes, but it's usually about the game, and he's more self-conscious, now that he can see her, now that his identity is out in the open. He's _Bellamy Blake_ ; he should be witty or charming or cool.

"Do you still have time for a mission?" Clarke asks, and he laughs.

"You want to?"

"You didn't think we were going to stop talking when I found out who you were, did you? I assume we're still shipmates."

He bites the corner of his mouth on his smile. "Yeah, still shipmates."

"Thanks for telling me," she adds, soft. "I know you didn't have to. And I won't--Raven knows, but we won't tell anyone else."

"It's not like I'm hiding. If anyone figures it out, I have no one but myself to blame."

"That's true. You could always reroll a new character. Come up with a different display name."

"Would you have asked if Roan didn't tell you I watched your channel?"

It's kind of awesome to be able to see her thinking it over. The movements and expressions are familiar, but this is just for him. She's talking to _him_.

"Eventually, yeah. It really _did_ weird me out, calling you Bellamy."

"Because you thought I was Bellamy Blake."

"If your name was John or something it wouldn't be an issue. Even with the avatar. But no one knows any other Bellamys."

"I sometimes get tweets from other people named Bellamy, actually. There are like five of us, and three of them are women."

"You're right, there are dozens of you."

"You're one to talk, _Clarke_ ," he teases, and she laughs, ducking her head, braid sliding over her shoulder.

He's so gone.

"Well, I was trying to be found."

"And I found you," he says.

She meets his eyes, smiles. "Yeah, you found me."

*

 **Bellamy** : This is the most boring meeting of all time

Clarke glances down at the sound of the phone buzzing, smiles when she sees the message. There's still something thrilling about getting regular texts from _Bellamy Blake_ , although she's mostly used to it by now. She has other friends who are something like celebrities, at least in their own fields, but he's far and away the biggest deal of any of them, and the fact that she's one of his go-to people to text remains unbelievable.

"One sec," she tells her viewers, and picks up the phone to text back: _I'm streaming, you're just complaining at the void right now_. "Sorry about that, somehow my friends haven't all memorized my schedule." She unpauses her game, glances at the chat, which is going nuts. "Wow, you guys really think that's a significant other? Just because I paused the game to respond? If I was in multiplayer and stopped to talk, that would be a big deal, but just pausing really isn't much. Do I have a boyfriend right now?" she reads. "No. And I'm bi, so let's not limit my options. I don't have a girlfriend either. I'm currently single." She tries to ignore the chat, but they're buzzing with questions, and it's probably one of those conversations she has to have. Again. " _Will you date me?_ Probably not, sorry. Do I know you? Oh, I should get to know you. Yeah, sorry. I have made friends with people from Twitch," she adds, feeling like the phone, still buzzing periodically with Bellamy texts, is burning a hole in her jeans. "But if you just want to make friends to hook up with me, it's not going to work out, sorry. I'll take two more questions about this and then I'm ignoring you guys and talking about games again." The first question she sees is straightforward, but kind of tough. "What's my type? I never felt like I had a great answer to that. I like people who are smart and who challenge me, but I don't want that all the time. Someone I can talk to, I guess. The world is full of hot people, I'd rather have someone I get along with." She glances back at the chat, and of course the first question that she sees is _celebrity crushes????_ , with someone else replying, _bellamy blake lol_. Which is unfortunately getting more accurate every day. 

On the other hand, he's still in his meeting; the newest text from him confirms that. There's no way he's watching this.

"Celebrity crush? Yeah, Bellamy Blake for sure. Still my number one. I'm glad this is my brand now. Bisexual, angry, loves video games and Bellamy Blake. I should make that my new profile. Are we done? I've got games to play."

She finishes off the planned session and signs off, finally letting herself check her phone. Bellamy stopped texting about ten minutes before she stopped streaming, and she can see his last message, right at the center of her display: _Okay, meeting finally over, thanks for letting me vent. I know you're not actually here, but you're my favorite void to scream into. Talk to you when I get home_.

"Number one celebrity crush," she mutters, putting her arm over her eyes. "No contest."

*

 **Me** : You're going to PAX East, right?

 **Clarke** : Yeah  
It's kind of a nightmare but I tend to make good money  
Why?

 **Me** : I was thinking about going

It's not the whole truth; mostly he's been trying to figure out an excuse to go to Boston, and this is the one he came up with. It's not like he's asking to come visit _her_ , because that might be weird. He's just thinking of going to an event he wouldn't go to otherwise, with the express purpose of getting to spend time with her. But as long as he doesn't actually _say_ that, it's probably okay. And she's smart, she'll be able to read between the lines. If she doesn't want to see him, she can tell him not to come to PAX East.

 **Clarke** : You can  
I have no idea what it would be like as an actual celebrity  
But I assume there's some booth that wants you to hang out  
It might be fun

 **Me** : For me or for you?

 **Clarke** : For you  
I'm going anyway  
But having you there would definitely make it more fun for me

 **Me** : Cool  
I'll let you know if I can make it  
I don't have anything lined up, so I could probably stretch the dates and check out Boston some while I'm there

 **Clarke** : Let me know  
Now I have to go record a podcast  
I hope you can make it

Once she's said that, there's no way he's _not_ going to go, even if Blizzard has no interest in having him at their booth. He can afford scalped tickets if he has to. 

But all he has do is call Roan, and Roan makes it happen, even provides extra tickets so Miller and Monty can come along. Having him around to meet people is, not surprisingly, a draw, and Roan says they'll give him a schedule of times to be at the booth, but he'll be free to enjoy the con for the most part.

Clarke just sends some confetti emoji when he tells her, and that's about where he's at too.

If he didn't have filming to do, he's pretty sure the next month would feel endless; as it is, he has a movie to finish up, a few days of recovery time, and then a flight to Boston, and he doesn't have much time to be nervous until he's actually on his way. 

They get in just before eight and make it to the hotel by 8:30; Miller’s the one to say, “Did you call her?”

“Just texted to let her know we landed. I could just wait for the con, right? I don’t have to see her tonight.”

“Why would you not see her?” Monty asks. Most of what he knows about Clarke, he’s heard from Miller, and Bellamy has no idea what he thinks is actually happening and honestly doesn't want to know.

“Because he’s a dumbass,” says Miller, which is probably actually most of what Monty's hears about the situation.

“I don’t want to pressure her. She could be busy. I’ll tell her we're at the hotel,” he adds, before they can object. “And if she doesn’t want to see me yet, I’ll come mope in your room.”

“At least go mope in a bar so we can have sex," says Miller.

"Dude, if you want to have sex after that plane ride, you're a stronger man than I am."

"We all know I'm a stronger man than you are."

"No offense, but I'm pretty sure you're not," says Monty. "Bellamy is, like, in shape for a living. It’s not a fair fight. He's professionally ripped.”

“Aren’t you supposed to support me?” Miller grumbles, and Bellamy ducks into his room before he can hear the rest of the conversation.

 **Me** : We made it to the hotel  
It’s pretty nice  
If you want to come check it out  
Assuming it's not a pain

 **Clarke** : If you want me to come over, you can just say that

 **Me** : I do, but if it's too late or whatever, I'll see you tomorrow anyway

 **Clarke** : You’re ridiculous  
I’ll be there in like half an hour

On most levels, Bellamy knows he has absolutely no reason to be nervous. Clarke is his friend; friends hang out. And he’s also an attractive guy. He knows she’s attracted to him, even. There’s a decent chance she wants to make out.

He’s just kind of worried he’s actually already fallen for her, and that could go wrong in all kinds of ways.

The unfortunate thing about being in a hotel room is that he can’t really obsessively clean while he waits for her, and he has to come up with something else to do with his hands. He brushes his teeth and washes his face, checks himself in the mirror for way longer than is necessary. Unpacking his stuff feels excessive, but he gets his suitcases out of the way, starts his electronics recharging, and, once he’s exhausted absolutely all other options, sits on his bed and tries to concentrate on _Breath of the Wild_.

Clarke texts when she gets to the train station to ask what room he’s in, and all semblance of distraction dies; he tells her and starts pacing around the room, obsessively checking his email and twitter even though absolutely nothing is happening.

And then she knocks on the door.

He takes a deep breath, puts his phone down, checks the room one more time, and opens up to see Clarke standing in front of him for the first time. She’s a little shorter than he expected, around the same height as his sister, but otherwise unsurprising. She’s wearing a My Little Pony/Pokemon mashup t-shirt and jeans, and her hair is loose and a little damp.

“Hey,” she says, and he laughs and tugs her into a hug once she’s inside with the door closed.

“Hi.”

She burrows against him like she’s never planning to leave. “I knew you weren’t that tall.”

“Like 5’9”. That’s pretty average.”

“You don’t have your height on IMDb, that always means short.”

“Maybe I’m just private.”

“That must be it.”

He pulls back to look at her again, still grinning. “It’s really good to meet you.”

“You too. How was the flight?”

“Pretty good. Not to brag, but first class is awesome.”

“The glamorous life of a Hollywood A-lister.”

“It’s so fucking weird,” he admits.

“I bet.” She pauses, lip caught in her teeth, and he tries not to stare. He’s definitely interested in her mouth a normal amount. “Okay, I just need to check this.”

He barely has time to be confused by the statement before she leans up and presses her lips against his.

He lets out a sharp, relieved laugh, and then he’s pulling her closer, sliding his hands up her sides, kissing her back as she presses in, warm and real and somehow still in his arms.

“Yeah?" he asks, and she rolls her eyes, so familiar even though it's his first time actually meeting her.

"Sorry, was _do you want to come check out my hotel room_ not code for _let's make out_?"

"Only if you wanted to make out."

She looks him up and down, gaze hot. "I want to do way more than make out."

"Yeah, I want to go on at least one date." That breaks the moment, and she laughs; he smiles too, but he can't help adding, "Seriously, I'm not just--"

"I like you too. We're definitely going to get dinner, and hang out all weekend, and figure out long distance or whatever, but right this minute I want to get you naked as soon as possible."

He kisses her again and then tugs off his shirt. "You know, I told Miller I couldn't believe he was up for sex after being on a plane all day."

"Yeah?" she asks, smirking as she pulls him back toward the bed.

He gets her shirt off too, presses her down onto the mattress and kisses her, messy and perfect. "I think I'll be fine," he murmurs.

"Yeah," she agrees. "I'm not worried."

*

"Did you see Bellamy Blake is here?"

Clarke's pretty sure her smile shows a little strain, but anyone who'd actually been paying attention for the last two hours couldn't blame her. She's heard Bellamy is here _a lot_ , and while she's beyond thrilled about it, she's getting tired of people acting like it's news to her. Not that they could or should know that every time she hears his name, she has vivid flashbacks to last night--to his mouth on her neck and his fingers on her clit and his dick inside her, hot and hard--but they should probably at least be able to figure out that by now, _everyone_ knows Bellamy Blake is hanging out at the Blizzard booth.

"I heard he's around, but I haven't made it over to him yet." It's technically true; they came to the convention center together, but she hasn't been to his booth or seen him since the con started. They're both working; she can see him tonight. This is work.

"He's so hot in person," one of the girls blurts out, and the other giggles. "I mean, I knew he was hot, but--"

"Yeah, I'll probably go try to score an autograph when I get a chance."

"We told him you were a fan of his and he said he was a fan of yours too!"

Clarke has never looked to see if people write fanfic about her and Bellamy, but now that she thinks about it, they almost certainly do. From what she can tell, people write fanfic about everything. So these girls are actually probably invested in the two of them meeting and hitting it off. It's sweet, if a little surreal.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he said he loves your channel."

"Maybe I can convince him to stream something with me while he's in town."

"You should! That would be so fun!"

The girls are facing Clarke, so they can't see what she can: that Bellamy is actually _coming over to see her_. It reminds her a little of playing make believe when she was a kid; this must be what it feels like to have a handsome prince pick you from all the girls at the ball.

Not to get too sappy or anything. But she's still on a pretty good endorphin high. She's allowed.

"What do you think?" she asks him, and the girls turn and look like they might faint at the sight of him. "You want to stream something with me tonight?"

There's an empty seat next to her that he takes like it was put there just for him, and not for Raven. "I don't know, you're a professional. You'd probably kick my ass. Hey guys," he adds, smiling at the two fans, who look like they might be having an out-of-body experience. "Clarke might already know I'm a fan of hers."

"Always good to hear again. Don't you have a job to do?"

"I'm on a break. Thought I'd come see how you're doing." He steals her water and takes a drink, and _Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin were flirting at PAX East_ is going to be all over the internet in no time flat. Even before he adds, conspiratorial, "Honestly, I just came to this con because I wanted to meet her."

"This is how you get rumors, you know that?"

"I do know that, yeah."

"Can we get a picture with both of you?" the first girl asks, and Bellamy cocks his head at Clarke like this is her decision, like he's not the giant movie star who's going to be tied to a random online gamer.

"I think we can probably handle that," she says, and the two of them flank the girls for a quick picture and let them go with hugs.

"I guess I could have asked if you minded me coming to see you," Bellamy says, once they're as alone as they can be in the middle of a packed convention hall. "But I wanted to check out the booth."

"I don't mind. You're the one who has to deal with anyone on the internet who cares about who you're dating thinking that you're dating me."

"I am dating you," he points out. "Right?"

Granted, it's been less than twenty-four hours, so it's not exactly surprising that Clarke isn't used to the fact that _Bellamy Blake_ is her _actual boyfriend_ yet, but it's especially amazing that he seems just as surprised by it as she is, like he can't quite believe he gets her either. It's not going to be easy--he's extending his trip for another week so they can spend more time together, but it's mostly going to be long-distance, her here and him in LA or wherever else he's working and filming--but she's actually pretty optimistic about it. They both want to make it work.

"I am. I just didn't know if you wanted to tell the whole internet."

"I don't want to not hang out with you when I can because I'm worried someone's going to post a picture. And I definitely want to stream with you tonight. You can kick my ass at some fighting game, it'll be fun."

Clarke can already see the asshole comments she'll get, the people accusing her of using him to boost her own brand, of being a bad bisexual for talking so much about a hot boy or having a boyfriend, of all sorts of other things she hasn't even encountered yet. 

At the same time, he's right; they have just over a week together, and she doesn't want to miss out on a single second of it worrying about what other people are going to think.

She steals the bottle of water back. "We'll play something easy. I don't want to make you look bad."

"My hero." He rubs the back of his neck. "So this is cool? I can hang out here?"

There's no one that close to them, and if someone is watching and gets a picture, whatever. He _is_ her boyfriend; it's not like they're getting the wrong idea. She gives his hand a quick squeeze under the table. "Yeah," she says. "This is cool. Don't go anywhere."

He will, of course; he'll be gone in a week. But he'll be back, or she will. They're going to make it work, because they're both too stubborn to just give up on something this good.

After all, her brand is still angry bisexual who loves video games and Bellamy Blake. She was laying the groundwork for this relationship without even knowing it, and Bellamy was doing it _on purpose_ , somehow, feeling her out and hoping, because he didn't want her to just like him for being, well, _him_.

It's hard to worry, after all that work. They know what they're getting into, warts and all, and they want it.

Against all odds, they've got it all figured out.


End file.
